The Book Museum of the National Library of the Parliament of Georgia has a distinct hall devoted to The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. One of the largest collections of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin publications is held by the National Library. Several dozen copies of The Knight in the Panther’s, which has been translated into fifty languages, are kept at the Book Museum.
The timeless poem by Shota Rustaveli was first printed in a printing house founded by King Vakhtang VI in 1712, marking the beginning of its publication history. The text’s determination came before the book’s publishing. In addition to the fact that many people at the time knew the poem by heart, numerous manuscripts included new or altered lyrics. The text was scrappy, as they would have described it back then. It became necessary to work on a published version of the poem because of this.
The Knight in the Panther’s Ski is one of the best versions of Shota Rustaveli’s poetry. It was prepared for years and published in 1888 under Giorgi Kartvelishvili’s direction. To decide the text of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, a commission was established in 1884 with financing provided by Giorgi Kartvelishvili. The panel’s members included Ilia Chavchavadze, Ivane Machabeli, Rafiel Eristavi, Dimitri Bakradze, Petre Umikashvili, and Iona Meunargia. When the book was published, a new typeface was ordered. Grigol Tatishvili fashioned the embellishments from examples of Georgian temples. The Hungarian artist Mihai Zychi, who was specifically asked for this task, produced the illustrations. Consequently, Tbilisi produced the first scholarly version of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, which is now referred to as the Kartvelishvili edition.
The text of the Kartvelishvili edition is used in other editions of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, but with slight modifications.
Despite having dozens of copies of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, the collection at the National Library’s Book Museum is still lacking. Both the most recent editions and uncommon, vintage versions are regularly added to the collection.
